Conversations
by ariandula
Summary: Post- The Last Resort. Joe sees more than people think. After all, being the underrated funny-man has it's advantages. It's up to him to get Frank to open up about what happened on that mountaintop. Then maybe Frank will finally have the courage to talk to Nancy... Oneshot.


**I'm back! A tad bit of angst in this one... Post- _The Last Resort_. Hopefully not too belabored :) Oneshot. (Why do my oneshots always end up angsty?) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. I do own many, many cardboard boxes. And books. And cardboard boxes filled with books. **

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Joe hated stakeouts.

It didn't help that he was wedged between two people who would much rather be wedged next to each other, significant others be damned. Not to mention, the hottest party of year was happening right then, only a few blocks away.

Joe reached into the bag of chips on his lap and pulled out a handful before stuffing it into his mouth. The occasionally proper girl on his right sighed and leaned away.

Oh, they thought he didn't know. They didn't realize that he sees everything. Being the underrated funny-man had its advantages, sometimes.

Another look passed between the two of them, making Joe supremely uncomfortable. _Or maybe not an advantage after all_, he thought.

They'd returned only a few weeks prior from a case at a snowy, mountain ski lodge. Something had happened between those two, though his brother had yet to say as much to him. Unlike Joe, he had a tendency to keep everything inside until it festers. Joe may have had the fast temper, but his brother's burned the hottest.

"Guys," Joe finally said, breaking the unnatural silence cloaking the car's interior. "You don't really need me here. So I'm going to switch metaphorical hats and head over to that party. Cool?"

The look that Frank shot over to Nancy could have burned the sun.

"Um, no, not cool," she finally stuttered. "We're a team, right?"

"Yeah, you can't leave me here on my own," Frank added, a note of pleading hiding behind the words.

"Unless I've been sitting next to a blow up doll - " he ignored the smack that stung his arm " - you're not going to be alone."

Joe couldn't help but think that there was some other reason why Frank didn't want to be abandoned, and it had everything to do with the girl who had just open-palmed his forearm.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Frank asked, strained.

"Aren't we already?" Joe grumbled, but Frank had already opened the door and crouched down by a tire. He joined his brother on the hard pavement.

"Do we have to be down here? I've got gravel imprinting itself onto my ass."

"Cute, Joe. You know we can't risk them seeing us."

"Them, or her?"

Frank recoiled an inch or so. "What are you talking about?"

"Despite what you and Dad occasionally think, I'm not a complete idiot." Frank made a noise at that but Joe pressed on. "Something happened between you and Nancy and now you're terrified to be around her. Care to share with the class?"

"Nothing happened," Frank declared, crossing his arms across his chest.

Joe laughed. "I'd be more likely to believe you if you had said that while looking at my eyes instead of my nose."

Part of being a good undercover detective was developing the ability to lie convincingly. Sometimes it was the difference between life and death. Joe had never really had a problem with lying while looking in someone's eyes. As far as he knew, neither had Frank. It was just another body part, after all. They had one exception, though - each other. They've never been able to lie to each other and get away with it. They've become good at trusting when information can't be shared, so lies between them are rarely necessary.

Frank looked in Joe's eyes and opened his mouth to try again, but at the last moment he sighed and looked away. "Sometimes I don't like you very much."

Joe clapped his brother on the shoulder before shifting on the hard ground. He was being serious before - there really was gravel digging into awkward places. But he knew his brother, and he knew that Frank would need to talk eventually. Prodding him with words was more likely to piss him off than open him up. All Joe had to do was wait.

"Fine," Frank said, sighing again.

_Like clockwork_, Joe thought to himself, succeeding in keeping the smile off of his lips.

"You know we were trapped in that cabin. We honestly thought we were about to die. I thought I was dying, Joe," Frank said. Joe paid him the courtesy of ignoring the emotion in the words.

"I know, brother. I believe you."

"I couldn't let myself die without knowing…"

"Knowing… Nancy?" Joe finished. "Like in the Biblical sense?"

"No, Joe! Get your head out of the gutter."

"Well, that's where my ass is," Joe muttered, but Frank ignored him.

"We just kissed, that's it. It was just a kiss. Honestly, nothing more."

Joe shook his head. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Frank leaned his head back against the car and slid his hand down his face. "What am I going to do, Joe?"

"I take it this means you like Nancy?" He knew this, of course. Had for years. But his brother needed to admit it out loud.

Frank laughed, but there was no humor in it. "That would be an understatement."

"What about…."

"Callie? Yeah, no kidding. I was this close, Joe, this close to telling Nancy that if she broke up with Ned I'd do the same with Callie."

"So what happened?"

"She said it was a mistake. That we should pretend it never happened and we don't care for each other and to keep going the way we have." Frank worried the skin between his thumb and forefinger. "And I agreed."

"Can I ask you a question?" When his brother made a consenting noise, Joe continued, "Do you still have feelings for Callie?"

Frank didn't speak for a long time. "This is going to sound crazy, but honestly? Yeah, I do. She's my first girlfriend, my first love. Even if Nancy had wanted to try us out, I don't know how I would have let go of that."

"Not to mention that our foursome would become a bit more complicated. Iola told me that you've been acting weird around Callie. So you've got to make a choice, dude. If you're not as invested as she deserves you should break up with her and move on, even if it means being alone. But if you still love her and this thing with Nancy is just that - a thing, then you need to let go of our red-haired associate. If for no other reason than that I don't think I can be stuck between you guys like this again."

"That bad?"

"I imagine it's what anthill torture feels like."

Frank was going to laugh, Joe was sure of it. Then Nancy chose that moment to crack open the car door.

"You guys, we've got to move. The suspect just left on foot."

Joe and Frank clambered back into the car and closed the door.

"Next time, we clear out the boxes in the backseat before the stake out," Joe grumbled when Nancy's elbow dug into his side.

Frank ignored him, his focus on the case renewed. "Which way did he go?"

"Down the block," Nancy said, pointing. "Then he turned right."

"Okay, let's go follow this guy," Frank said, starting the car.

Just a few minutes later, they had tracked their suspect to the very place Joe had wanted to be all along. A heavy beat pounded from inside a house while lights flashed and pulsed.

"No way," Joe said, dismayed. "I could have been here the whole time."

"Sorry Joe," Nancy said, though she didn't sound it.

"At least we'll have a good cover story," Frank said.

"For me, maybe," Joe countered. "You don't usually make an appearance at these things."

"Yeah, and Cal… and I've been bugged about it." Frank's eyes slid over to Nancy, and even though Joe was sure she picked up on the name slip, she didn't even blink. _Damn, she's good_.

"Try not to embarrass me," Joe said, pushing Frank out of the car before following him out.

Stepping through the front entryway felt like walking into a hazy cloud of hormones and happiness, just the way Joe liked it. He was tempted to make a beeline for the food table before heading out onto the dancefloor, but despite some people's claims he did have some measure of responsibility in him.

"Let's fan out," he suggested. "I'll go look in the kitchen while you guys head to the living room and the deck." Hey, no one could accuse him of being unable to multitask. Frank shot him a look but didn't argue. Joe just shrugged in response; he was hungry.

It took him about five seconds to see that the guy they were after was not in the kitchen, and then about five seconds more to grab a soda and a cookie. Nancy and Frank had already dispersed, so he took his food on the road to other rooms. Only three girls fondled him as he went, so it must have been an off night.

Joe was just about to turn a corner when a familiar - and irritated - voice stopped him.

"Nan, we've got to talk about this."

"We already did, Frank."

Joe peeked around the corner to see Nancy and Frank on the other side, leaning close to each other. Neither looked particularly happy. Frank looked pained, while Nancy appeared to be two seconds from fleeing.

"No, we didn't," Frank was saying. "We said we'd forget it happened, but we didn't actually talk about what it meant."

Nancy looked down, and Joe about fell over when he saw her fighting back tears. Frank, noticing too, reached out and moved some of her hair behind her ear, exposing her face.

"I'm not trying to upset you," he said so quietly that Joe almost missed it.

"I know," Nancy replied. "I just wish I knew what to say. Did that kiss mean something to me?"

Joe could practically feel Frank's tension, just a few inches and a corner away from him.

"Yes," she continued, "it did. It meant more to me than it probably should have. But Frank, my life is in River Heights. My family and friends. My…"

"Boyfriend," Frank finished for her. "I know."

"I'm too young and too stressed to deal with a long-distance relationship right now. Not to mention that I still care for Ned."

"But," Frank countered, and Joe was surprised to hear the frustration in his voice, "it isn't the same. It can't possibly be. What we have is…"

"Special." This time Nancy finished the thought. "I know. But circumstances right now don't work in our favor. Would you honestly break up with Callie to be with a girl that you see a couple of times a year? Give up everything on a whim?"

Frank moved even closer, leaned his forehead against hers. Joe involuntarily held his breath when he saw Nancy doing the same. "It's not a whim, Nan," Frank said.

Nancy brought her hand up to his chest, and Joe wondered if it was to pull him closer or push him away. She did neither, leaving her hand there against his heart.

"My point is still the same. You love Callie."

The clear statement seemed to give Frank pause. "Yes," he finally choked out. "I still love Callie."

"Then that's all that matters," Nancy said, a tear dripping down her face. It landed on Frank's shirt.

Reluctant acceptance stole its way across his face. "Will it ever work for us?"

"I don't know," Nancy said. "But I made promise to myself that we can never kiss like that again, not as long as we're involved with others. We can't let it happen."

"I know," Frank agreed. "It's not fair to them."

"It's not fair to us." Her voice was so quiet Joe didn't think he'd heard her right. Then she buried her face in the place where Frank's neck met his shoulder while he wrapped his arms around her.

Joe couldn't deny that their breaths seem to come at once, their heights perfectly paired. He wouldn't have been surprised if their hearts beat at the same time.

"Oh, Frank," Joe sighed to himself. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

He never got a chance to answer his own question, as the person they were looking for made an appearance. Hoping to give them time to pull it together, he backed up a few steps before calling their names. By the time he came around the corner, Nancy had her game face on and the single tear mark on Frank's shirt had already dried.

"Let's do this," Nancy said ready to charge.

"Yes, lets," Frank said. Joe was pretty sure that if he'd had long shirtsleeves he would have rolled them up.

He couldn't help but wonder if Frank was responding to a different question altogether.

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**BOOK GIVEAWAY! So, I'm going to be moving in the near future and absolutely must clear out all of my extra copies of supermysteries. If you want me to mail you one (for free!), send me a private message! **

**Thanks for reading! **


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